The present invention relates to a satellite or satellite station for missions in outer space and including a stabilized space capsule, such as a service module, as well as a platform as a payload module coupled to the service module and being rotatable in relation thereto, so as to be capable of being oriented in a manner differently from the orientation of the, say, orbiting space capsule or just the service module.
Satellite stations when placed in orbit are oriented so as to have a particular orientation generally, relative to the sun or to the earth. The orientation is determined and maintained under utilization of a spin or gyro effect. Aside from orienting the space station or a part thereof to the sun or towards the earth, it is also possible, to use other reference points and reference elements for purposes of obtaining a particular orientation.
Space stations and satellites are often, possibly even normally, composed basically of two modules, a service module and a payload platform type module. On account of their differences in function, they usually have to be oriented differently and oriented in relation to different reference points or directions. For example, a service module holds solar generators such as deployable solar panels or the like, and it is, therefore, necessary to orient the service module in relation to the sun. On the other hand, the respective associated payload may perform some functions in relation to the earth and, therefore, should be oriented in relation to the earth underneath. Alternatively, it may be the function of the station to make certain observations in a particular direction in outer space, then, of course, the orientation must be such as to accommodate the task to be performed.
Upon constructing the satellites and satellite type space stations in the past, it was customary to interconnect the various modules through rigid but rotatable connections. These interconnections, including particularly rotatable connections, experienced a high acceleration on lauching, in that the full acceleration force was transmitted through the connection as a load acting on the connection. Basically this is an unsatisfactory condidition, because it requires a construction which is to be dimensioned primarily just for this particular short instance of launching during which the high acceleration occurs. As far as the subsequent flight and orbiting is concerned, these connections are considerably over-dimensioned.